A Link to the Past, part 2 of 3
by StaindRedGlass
Summary: STORY 1, Part 2: In the pursuit of justice, revenge, and a disk, Gibbs and the team go head to head against an ex Spec Ops unit. Chaos reins as the team is pushed to the limits. PILOT STORY CONTINUATION FOR THE SERIES.
1. Chapter 1

The following story is Part 2 of the story "A Link to the Past" and picks up where Part 1 left off. This part occurs a couple weeks later.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Friday**

**Chapter 1**

After getting out of a long hard day's work at NCIS Headquarters, Abby goes to a local restaurant to meet up with Jamie for dinner. Jamie is running a little late, but eventually gets to the restaurant and sits at the table with Abby. The two of them are sitting at a table by the huge front window.

"Sorry I'm late."

"That's no problem, Jamie."

"There was a huge accident that held me up. It's amazing how some people actually have a driver's licenses these days."

"I know what you mean." Abby agreed. "By the way, since you were running late I took the liberty of ordering you the lobster platter."

"Ah, my favorite. Thank you."

"Obviously it's your favorite since you order it every single time we're here."

"Do I really?"

"Yes."

"I didn't even notice. What can I say… I'm a lobster girl. Besides, I find lobsters to be tremendously sexy."

"Of course… How can anyone not find a lobster to be sexy?"

"For one thing, they're red."

"And they have claws. The claws are the sexiest part of a lobster."

"Got that right! But you know what they say about a lobster with big claws…"

Suddenly, the two girls hear the screeching of a fast-moving car. A car is now racing down the street.

"What in the world is going on out there?" Abby wondered.

"I have no idea. Probably bad driver's causing more accidents." Jamie stated.

The two girls now hear gun-fire as the car zooms in front of the restaurant. The window they're sitting next to begins to break as bullets fly through it. Abby and Jamie slip out of their chairs and lay on the floor. A body comes crashing through the window and lands on their table as bullets continue to fly through. The blood quickly drips off the table and onto the floor below, right in front of Abby and Jamie. The gun-fire stops as the car drives off into the night. The two girls stand up; Abby much slower than Jamie to stand. They look at the bullet-filled dead body on the table. Abby starts feeling lightheaded as she leans to the right. Abby has an agonizing facial expression. She glances down at her right side, the side of her body that was facing the window. She looks at Jamie. Abby is holding her right side.

"What's wrong, Abs?" Jamie asked in concern for her friend.

"Call 911." Abby said with an expression of pain on her face.

Abby falls to the floor and pumps out of her wound. Jamie immediately kneels right next to Abby and places her left hand on Abby's wound to apply pressure to it. With her right hand, Jamie takes the cell-phone from her purse and immediately calls 911. After calling the emergency help line, she then calls Gibbs. Once both phone-calls are made, she drops the cell-phone and places her right hand above her left, to apply even more pressure to Abby's wound. Abby starts coughing up blood at this point.

"Hold on, Abs. Help is on the way. Don't you die on me."

Within a couple minutes three ambulances arrive. Two paramedics immediately take care of Abby, who is the most severely wounded out of everybody. The other paramedics go around the restaurant to check on other people who have injuries.

Once the paramedics are Abby stabilized enough, they put her on a stretcher in order to rush her to the hospital. As they're rushing Abby to the ambulance, Gibbs and the team arrive. Gibbs immediately rushes to Abby's side.

"Abby, can you hear me?" Gibbs asked of Abby as he places his hand in hers.

Abby is unresponsive to Gibbs. She doesn't even move her eyes, as if she isn't conscious enough to realize Gibbs is there. Abby coughs up more blood. Gibbs looks to Jamie.

"What happened, Jamie?"

"We were having dinner and suddenly bullets started flying through the window."

"Sir, you're going have to either come with us, or stay behind." One of the paramedics said as the stretcher is being placed inside the ambulance.

Gibbs and Jamie hop into the ambulance. Before the door closes, he looks toward Tony and Ziva who are standing near the ambulance door.

"Find out what happened here! And why!"

The ambulance door closes. The siren blares. The ambulance speeds off down the street. Tony, Ziva and McGee are left at the restaurant in order to find out why the man on the table was being shot at and also to gather any evidence.

When the ambulance finally arrives at the hospital, Abby is rushed into the main area of emergency room, where the receptionist and waiting room are. Just before entering the actual emergency room itself, the doctor who will be taking care of Abby's wound comes out from an employee door.

"Doc, she's with NCIS." Gibbs said to the doctor.

"I take good care of agents. She's in good hands with me."

The doors of the actual emergency room open and Abby is rushed through. Gibbs and Jamie can't go any further than this point. The two of them watch as the doors close. Gibbs and Jamie feel so helpless.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A couple hours passes. Gibbs and Jamie remain in the waiting room. Jamie is sitting in a couch watching her father as he paces back and forth. She wants so badly to talk to him, but doesn't really know what to say or how to say it. So she remains silent. As Gibbs paces, though his thoughts should be on Abby, he can't help but think of his daughter Jamie who is sitting on the couch close by. More than anything, he would love to start up a conversation with her. A conversation about how much he loves her and how he'd like to be a family again but there's only one problem; Jamie doesn't remember him so it wouldn't make much of a difference. For the two of them; Jamie thinks her father abandoned her and Gibbs thinks his daughter has no memory of him. They remain at an emotional distance, as they have ever seen coming back into each other's life.

Gibbs and Jamie stay in the waiting room of the hospital for any news on Abby's condition. Tony, Ziva and McGee enter into the waiting room area as Gibbs is pacing around the room. Jamie is still sitting on the couch, but now rocking back and forth as she's really worried about her friend Abby.

"Boss… How's Abby doing?" McGee asked in concern.

"Don't know yet… The doctor hasn't come around."

"And Jamie?" Tony wondered.

"She's a little shook up, but she's alright for the time being. She hasn't said much since we got here." Gibbs said. "Ziva, you think you can…"

"I'm not very good with this type of stuff, but sure." Ziva knew what Gibbs was asking of her. She walks over to the couch and sits with Jamie.

"Are you up for hearing what we got?" Tony asked.

"I want whoever did this!" Gibbs exclaimed in a strong voice.

"The victim who crashed through the window was Johnny Buxton." Tony said.

"He was a Marine Sergeant." McGee added. "So we have jurisdiction over this."

"We have a couple witnesses who saw the car as it drove by. They remember seeing three people inside…" Tony begins to say.

"Can any of them give a description of their faces?"

"They were wearing black masks." McGee said. "We have the color, model and license plate of the car. We also recovered all the bullets that were fired."

"You know Boss, this could've been gang related. I mean, it was a drive-by shooting." Tony said.

"What else?"

"That's it." McGee replied.

"What do you mean that's it?!"

"That's all we got from the crime-scene, Boss." Tony stated.

"I hope I don't have to tell you how to do your job, DiNozzo." Gibbs said. "You have the dead Sergeant's name. Where does he live?"

"Don't know yet, Boss." Tony replied.

"Find out! And find out who wanted to kill him!" Gibbs barked.

Ziva, Jamie and other people in the waiting room hear this and all look in Gibbs' direction.

"And you better find something quickly or else." Gibbs said in a softer tone of voice.

"Or else what, Boss?" Tony wondered.

Gibbs stands in Tony's face and stares him down.

"Or else you'll be the next person crashing through a window." Gibbs said. "I want the bastards who did this."

Tony and McGee walk away from the area and away from angry Gibbs. Ziva joins them. The three of them walk down the hallway of the hospital in order to get to the exit.

"Why do you always feel the need to test him?" Ziva asked.

"Don't know… Force of habit, I guess." Tony answered.

"You know how much he loves Abby." McGee stated. "She's his favorite."

"I know. So let's go do something about this." Tony said.

The three of them walk out of the hospital in order to go find out where the dead Marine Sergeant lives. After the three of them leave, the doctor finally comes out to speak with Gibbs. Jamie glances over in concern. Her heart beats faster as she gets up and walks over to find out about Abby condition.

"Doc, how's she doing?" Gibbs asked. "Is she okay?"

"She lost a lot of blood. But we were able to give her an immediate blood transfusion so it's not as bad as it probably should be."

"But she'll be okay, right?"

"She's in stable condition at the moment. I did everything I could. The rest is up to the man upstairs."

"Can we see her?" Jamie asked.

"She's resting now, but you can go see her. She's in room 112 which is through those doors, fourth room on the left." The doctor points in the direction.

"Thanks doc." Gibbs said.

"You're welcome."

Gibbs and Jamie walk to the room where Abby is. They suddenly heard the flat-line noise of a heart monitor and quickly run into Abby's room. Jamie begins crying in relief as she realizes it wasn't Abby's heart monitor. Abby is lying on the hospital bed with a breathing tube down her throat and an IV tube sticking out of her arm. Gibbs and Jamie are standing just inside the doorway. Both of them stunned at what they see. Jamie slowly places her hand into Gibbs' hand. Together, they walk over to Abby's bed-side. Gibbs places his hand on Abby's arm.

"I'm going to find the people responsible for this, Abs. I swear to God they're going to pay for what they did to you. I promise you that." Gibbs said.

Gibbs moves closer, leans down and kisses Abby on the forehead. He turns and walks away. He walks out of the room. Gibbs walks to an area where nobody is around. In anger, he immediately kicks a trashcan. Gibbs leans up against the wall. He looks upward and begins to get teary-eyed.

"Please God… Help her make it through this."

Gibbs' back slides down the wall. He's now sitting against the wall with his back to it. He places his hands over his face and begins to cry slightly.

Meanwhile, back in the hospital room where Abby lies, Jamie pulls up a chair next to the bed and sits down. She gently places her hand into Abby's. Jamie gets teary-eyed at seeing her friend in such a horrible state.

"Abs… Don't you even think about dying on me. You can't. You've quickly become my best friend. You mean too much to me for me to lose you now. I love you Abby." Jamie paused for a couple seconds to wipe a tear from her eye. "Can you hear me, Abs? Friends don't quit on each other. I'm going to be here at your side as long as it takes. Don't you give up on me… Cause I'm not going to give up on you. I love you, Abs."

A couple seconds pass. Jamie starts to feel something. She looks at her hand which is holding Abby's hand. With what little strength Abby has, she tries grasping Jamie's hand. Jamie cracks a smile and makes a little laugh of relief. A couple tears roll down her cheeks because she knows Abby recognizes that she's there.


	3. Chapter 3

**Saturday**

**Chapter 3**

There are six people in an abandoned warehouse having a secret meeting very early, around 03:45 Saturday morning. One of the people happens to be Special Agent Marcus Frank of the CIA. The other five people are ex-military, who have been operating under the command of Marcus Frank. The ex-military team calls themselves "The Wolfpack."

"You wanted to us, Sir." The leader of the Wolfpack said.

"Sit your asses down!" Marcus yelled.

The Wolfpack members sit down on the chairs that are set out for them. The leader knows why Marcus Frank is pissed off.

"I can explain…" The leader begins to say.

"I don't care for explanations! What in the hell did you think you were doing last night?"

"It's…"

"Shut up! I'm sick and tired of cleaning up your messes all the damn time. And this is a mess I unfortunately can't clean-up so fuckin easily!"

"Things just got a little out of hand, that's all."

"A little out of hand?! You call shooting up a restaurant, a little out of hand?!"

"Well…"

"I told you to take care of the situation in a quiet manner! Do you call what you did taking care of it in a quiet manner?!"

"So we had a little fun with it." The Wolfpack leader laughed. "What's the big deal?"

"You didn't just kill the target. You injured seven other people in total! One of which happens to be Abby Sciuto!"

"Who?"

"She's the Forensics Specialist for NCIS! And she just happens to be the favorite to Special Agent Jethro Gibbs!"

"And your point is?"

"I already have Gibbs riding my ass! Do you morons have any idea what you just did?!"

"It doesn't…"

"Shut the hell up! I told you to take care of this quietly. Do you idiots have a learning disabilities?! What you did was not… In any way, shape or form of what I or anyone would expect quiet to be!"

"Look…"

"Don't speak! I am so pissed off right now. Agent Gibbs is the type of person who doesn't give up. If he tracks this to me, than the entire operation that took me fifteen years to steal will be lost. Do you want to lose it so quickly?!"

"Well, no."

"Then find the copy of the disk that has the pictures of my face. Find the disk, and do it quietly."

"How could the copy of that disk be lost for fifteen years in the first place?"

"I don't know. And I don't care. Just find it before Gibbs does!"

The Wolfpack members stand up and walk away. The leader of the Wolfpack stops walking, turns around and looks at Marcus.

"And if Gibbs and his team get too close? What should we do then?" The leader asked.

"Kill them…" Marcus stated.

The Wolfpack leaves the warehouse in order to go find where the copy of the disk might be. Marcus Frank remains inside the warehouse. He sits down and tries to calm down as best as he can, though it's hard because he knows how Gibbs can be, especially in regards to him. And since Abby was put in the hospital due to people associated with him, he knows Gibbs will stop at nothing. So he's stuck having to trust the job to get done by a gang of adrenaline junkies. Marcus takes a deep breath and tries to figure out a back-up plan in the case his employed morons continue this streak of messes that create the possibility of drawing attention to him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Tony, Ziva and McGee arrive at the house where Marine Sergeant Johnny Buxton lived before his murder. The front door is partially open. They all draw their guns. Slowly and quietly they enter into the house. Tony starts checking the ground floor. McGee goes to check the basement. And Ziva goes upstairs in order to check the second floor. On the second floor, Ziva hears some noises in one of the rooms. She approaches the door to the room. Ziva busts into the room and points her gun at the person inside.

"Freeze!"

"Ahh!" The man jumps a bit. He drops the things he's holding and raises his hands in the air like he surrenders. "Please don't kill me! I don't have the disk!"

"I'm with NCIS… Officer Ziva David."

"Thank God you're not one of them."

"One of whom? Who are you? And what disk?"

"Corporal Nathan Marshall. And we seriously need to get out here before they find me."

Tony and McGee enter into the room.

"Who is this guy?" Tony wondered.

"I'm a dead man if you don't get me out of here!"

"Calm down, mister." McGee said.

Tony and McGee are about two feet away from the door. Nathan wants out but the two of them are blocking his escape route. Nathan approaches near the doorway area in order to pick something up, or pretend to. Nathan pushes his way through Tony and McGee. Ziva runs after him, with Tony and McGee eventually trailing behind. Nathan runs down the stairs. He runs toward the front door but stops as he sees a grenade rolling around by the door.

"Grenade!" Ziva yelled.

Ziva quickly kicks the grenade into the TV room. She grabs Nathan in order to pull him to the side behind the wall. The grenade explodes just as Tony and McGee are halfway down the stairs. The two of them stop in their tracks. Some debris flies out of the TV room, in their direction. They both try to shield themselves as best as they possibly can.

"Ziva!" Tony exclaimed because he's unsure if she was anywhere near the explosion and can't see her due to the smoke caused by the explosion.

Tony quickly runs down the rest of the stairs in order to find Ziva. McGee draws his gun, runs down the rest of the stairs and goes into the dining room in order to look out the window. Tony finds Ziva.

"Ziva, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Tony asked in concern.

"I'm fine…" Ziva said as she looks around. "Nathan, where is he?"

Tony helps Ziva to get up off the floor. As McGee quickly glances out the window, he sees five men standing outside. The men are wearing black masks. McGee's eyes widened at how much firepower the men have. Two assault rifles each equipped with a grenade launcher, one machine gun, one minigun, and one semiautomatic tactical shotgun; all of which are aimed at the house.

"Get down! Find cover!" McGee yelled.

McGee runs toward the other end of the dining room. He runs through the threshold and into a small family room type setting where he jumps over a couch. Tony and Ziva, who are somewhat close to the front door at the time, jump to the floor. The five men outside begin shooting at the house. Bullets fly everywhere. McGee crawls toward the back of the house in order to get to the backdoor.

Tony and Ziva are still on the floor close to the front door. Tony gets slightly on top of Ziva in order to shield her as they crawl toward the back of the house. Pieces of glass, splintered wood, and many other things keep falling on top of them the entire time. Tony does all he can to shield Ziva from the debris which is constantly falling on top of them. They slowly crawl their way to the basement door as the bullets continue crashing through almost everything inside the house. Ziva crawls through the basement doorway. She looks back at Tony.

"Come on, Tony."

Suddenly, Tony sees a grenade fly over his head. He immediately slams the basement door right in Ziva's face. The grenade explodes.

"Tony!" Ziva yelled as she hears the explosion.

McGee manages to crawl his way out the backdoor where he finds Nathan lying on the ground. Nathan is shaking and scared out of his mind.

"Go into the tool shed and stay there." McGee said as he points toward the tool shed.

Nathan crawls to the tool shed and enters inside for safety. McGee crawls around the house in a cautious manner.

For the next seven minutes, the house is constantly bombarded with bullets and the occasional grenade is launched or thrown in. From the basement, all Ziva hears are things breaking, falling, or exploding.

The five men finally hear police sirens in the distance. They stop shooting at the house, run to their van and quickly sped away. McGee couldn't get around the house in time to shoot back. So he fires a couple shots at the van as it speeds away. McGee runs into the house to find his partners.

"Tony! Ziva!" McGee shouted.

Ziva quickly opens the basement door and comes out to the familiarity of McGee's voice.

"Tony!" Ziva yelled. "Where's Tony?"

"I don't know…"

"Tony!"

Ziva's eyes widened as she sees Tony in the kitchen. Ziva runs to Tony and gives him a hug. She's actually never been so happy to see him.

"I thought you were killed." Ziva stated. She backs away from him a bit. "Why are you cold?"

"I was…" Tony begins to say in a shivering voice. "In the freezer."

Ziva looks behind Tony and notices the freezer door is open. Tony, Ziva and McGee all take a moment to look at each other and look at the mess the house is in after being shot up. Each of them has a few minor scrapes and cuts, Tony more than the other two. Ziva looks at McGee.

"Where's Nathan?" Ziva wondered.

"He's in the tool shed." McGee replied.

The three of them walk through the mess toward the back of the house. Ziva allows McGee to continue on as she stops Tony real quick. She looks into Tony's eyes and cracks a smile.

"Thanks, Tony." Ziva said. "But it really wasn't necessary for you to feel the need to protect me just because I'm a woman."

"No problem." Tony said in his shivering voice. "But that's not the reason I did it." He now grins and winks at Ziva.

"Only in your dreams, Tony." Ziva said in a sexy voice. "But if you ever do that again, I'll rip your balls off and feed them to the lions at the zoo."

"You sure you don't want to give me a go just one time?"

Ziva punches Tony in the arm. She walks away. Tony rubs his arm and smirks.

Tony and Ziva continue walking to the back and catch up with McGee in the backyard. The three of them walk to the tool shed. McGee opens the door. Nathan is sitting in the tool shed crouched behind a couple boxes. The three of them now look at each other wondering what in the hell they just got themselves into.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The team is back at NCIS Headquarters. Corporal Nathan Marshall is sitting in the interrogation room. Tony and Ziva are in the observation room watching and waiting for Gibbs to go into interrogation. Gibbs enters the interrogation room to talk with Nathan. Tony and Ziva look through the two-way mirror in order to view what happens.

"I heard what happened, Corporal." Gibbs said. "How about you tell me what's going on here?"

"I don't know exactly, Sir." Nathan answered.

"You don't know exactly. Than what exactly is it that you do know?"

"Not much, Sir." Nathan replied. "Look… If you don't have any basis for holding me then I'm going to leave."

Nathan stands up from the chair.

"Sit your ass down Corporal. Now!" Gibbs slams his fist onto the table.

Nathan sits back down onto the chair.

"I'm having a really bad day. My forensics specialist is in critical condition. My team was almost killed while inside of a house that was practically destroyed by gun-fire. And it's all because of your roommate!" Gibbs exclaimed. "I have every basis on which to hold you. Or even charge you with accessory to attempted murder. So you better cut the bullshit and start talking!"

There's a moment of silence before Nathan speaks.

"Johnny and I have been friends for years. When I got kicked out of my house, Johnny gave me a place to stay. I lived in that house with him for a couple years now. About a month ago, I was a little drunk and broke a piece of a wall. Johnny found something inside the wall..."

"What did he find?"

"A disk… Inside the wall he found a disk. He decided to check out what was on it. We were both somewhat curious about it. We saw what was on that disk. He recognized one of the men on it. Johnny said it was a guy by the name of Frank. I forget his first name. I never seen or met him before, but Johnny did one time. Johnny said he works for the FBI or CIA, or some government agency. I forget which…"

"You mean, CIA Special Agent Marcus Frank?"

"Yeah, that's who he said. I couldn't quite remember it."

Gibbs leans forward and grabs Nathan by the throat.

"Where's the disk?"

"I… Don't have… It." Nathan tries to say.

Gibbs lets Nathan go as he realizes he needs to calm down. Nathan rubs his throat.

"What's your problem?!" Nathan asked.

"My problem is far beyond what you need to know. Nathan… You do realize the only way we can help you, is if we have that disk."

"How do I know you're not working for them?"

"My team was almost killed! And the man you saw on that disk is the same man my family saw on the original disk before he had someone try to kill them fifteen years ago! My wife died instantly and my seven-year-old daughter just barely survived. The disk you found must be a copy. I would do anything to put that bastard away for what he did! But the only evidence there is that can even remotely do so, lies with that disk. So where is it?!"

"I don't know where it is."

"How can you not know where it is?!"

"When I realized what exactly was on the disk I told Johnny what he was thinking was a really bad idea and to just forget it. He promised me he wouldn't go through with it and that he would destroy the disk. But he clearly didn't. Johnny hid the disk somewhere so they wouldn't find it and he could make a deal with them."

"What did he do?"

"He got in contact with Marcus Frank and tried to blackmail him. That's why he was killed. And that's why they came after me… Because they think I have the disk. But I don't. I don't even know where Johnny hid it."

"If you even have the slightest indication of where that disk is located, you better tell me right now."

Meanwhile, inside the observation room, Tony really has to use the bathroom so he steps to the door in order to get out. The door won't open.

"The door's stuck." Tony said as he tries to turn the knob.

"How can the door be stuck?" Ziva wondered.

"I don't know. It just is. This is weird."

Suddenly, the door to the interrogation room swings open and a man wearing a black mask steps through the doorway. He immediately points a gun at Gibbs and fires a shot.

"Tony!" Ziva exclaimed.

Tony looks in the direction of the two-way mirror. He grabs a chair. Ziva gets out of the way by going over to the door to see if she can try opening it. Tony pounds the chair against the two-way mirror.

Inside the interrogation room, the masked man shoots Nathan nine times. Nathan is now lying motionless on the floor. Gibbs is also on the floor, in the corner, hardly able to move.

With the chair in hand, Tony keeps pounding at the two-way mirror as Ziva keeps trying to open the door.

"Help!!!" Ziva yelled.

"Out of all the one-way mirrors we could possibly get, we had to get the unbreakable kind!" Tony whacks at the two-way mirror again.

Inside the interrogation room, the man walks up to the helpless Gibbs. He raises his hand and points the gun at Gibbs again. He fires a second shot at him. The masked man now leaves the room.

Tony and Ziva remain stuck in the observation room, looking through the two-way mirror. They look at Gibbs who is lying on the floor, in the corner, not moving.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

An hour after the interrogation room incident, the bodies of both Nathan and Gibbs are lying on separate tables down in Autopsy. Tony, Ziva and McGee enter into Autopsy in order to speak with Ducky. At the moment, Ducky is at the middle table performing the autopsy on Corporal Nathan Marshall.

"Welcome." Ducky greeted the team.

"How's he doing?" McGee wondered as he looks at Gibbs who is lying on the furthest table which happens to be the next table; the table behind Ducky.

"Jethro will be fine. He just got knocked out. As for Nathan, that's a different story. Nathan died within sixty seconds. They were both shot with the same darts, correct?" Ducky asked.

"Yes they were." Tony said.

"At first we thought…" Ziva begins to say as she suddenly paused because she, for some reason, just couldn't finish saying the thought.

"I know my dear. We're all glad the attacker didn't use bullets." Ducky said.

"What I don't understand is how the man even got into the building in the first place." McGee stated. "I mean, who exactly are these guys?"

"That's what we're going to have to find out." Ziva said. "Cause this is starting to get out of hand."

"I sent samples up to Janice. She'll be able to determine what exactly they were both shot with. It's obviously some type of poison." Ducky said. "I'm just not sure what type."

"Thanks, Ducky." Tony said.

"You're quite welcome." Ducky replied.

Tony, Ziva and McGee leave Autopsy. They enter into the elevator and go up to the next floor. While Abby is in the hospital recovering from being shot, a Forensics temp named Janice is operating the lab in her absence. Tony, Ziva and McGee enter.

"What do you have for us, Janice?" Tony asked.

"The poison is definitely man-made, not even close to being anything natural. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm still running tests to determine what exactly the poison is made of, but…" Janice is stopped in the middle of her sentence because Ziva interrupts her.

"What can you tell us about this poison right now?" Ziva asked.

"Wow… What's your rush lady? Science takes time you know." Janice replied.

"Don't mind her. We're all having a rough day here." McGee stated. "You can continue."

"The poison is only lethal at a high enough dosage, seven milligrams to be exact. Each of the darts can only hold 1.5 milligrams. Since Agent Gibbs was shot with two darts, that means he only had three milligrams of poison in his system. So it was only enough to knock him out for a while. And most likely he'll have a major headache when he wakes up. As for Nathan, he had 13.5 milligrams of poison in his system from being shot nine times. Compared to the necessary amount to actually kill a human being… It's almost doubled and would've been enough to kill an elephant."

"The shooter wanted to make sure Nathan would definitely be dead." Ziva stated.

"But why shoot him full of 13.5 milligrams when it would've only taken seven to kill him?" McGee asked.

"Maybe he didn't exactly know how many milligrams it would definitely take to get the job done." Janice said. "But he probably had at least some idea since he wasted two darts on Agent Gibbs."

"Did you find anything else?" Tony asked.

"Yes… I found a fingerprint on one of the darts." Janice stated.

"That's good news." Ziva said. "At least we have something to go on now."

"If you look at the computer screen it'll show you who the print belongs to. I'm sorry I haven't looked yet, but I'm really trying to work on figuring out what the poison is made of." Janice said.

Tony, Ziva and McGee move to the computer to look at the screen. They see a photo of the man the fingerprint belongs to. Tony looks to McGee.

"McGee… Get on the computer…" Tony points to the computer at Abby's desk. "…And find out whatever you can about Jason Kerney."

"On it…" McGee said as he walks to the desk. He sits down and starts working.

A minute passes.

"What I don't get is…" Tony begins to say.

"Take a look at this." McGee said.

"That was quick." Ziva said.

Tony and Ziva walk to the desk.

"There's not much information on him." McGee stated. "A lot of his files are classified."

"Well declassify them, McGee." Tony said.

"You know it's not that easy, Tony." McGee said.

"I know… I just always wanted to say that." Tony grins.

"He was a part of a Special Operations team, but was dishonorably discharged for knocking out a superior officer." McGee stated. "Huh…"

"What is it?" Ziva asked.

"This is strange… Jason Kerney and his entire Spec Ops unit were all dishonorably discharged within the same two week period." McGee answered. "You know what this could possibly mean."

"It means we might be dealing with his entire unit." Ziva stated.

"Just because they all got dishonorably discharged within the same time-frame doesn't mean they didn't go their separate ways." Tony said.

Suddenly, Gibbs enters into the lab.

"We're definitely dealing with an entire Spec Ops unit here." Gibbs stated.

"What makes you think that, Boss?" Tony wondered.

"The way these guys move. The weapons they have. They know exactly what they're doing. They're smart, intelligent, methodical, fearless…" Gibbs begins to say. He squinches his face a little bit due to the severe headache he has.

"You alright, Boss?" McGee asked.

"I have a splitting headache." Gibbs said.

"Maybe you need some Advil." Tony stated.

Gibbs smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"Or that could work too." Tony said as he rubs his head.

"What I need is the bastard who shot me and Abby." Gibbs said.

"What about us? I mean, we were almost killed inside the house as it was getting shot up."

"DiNozzo…" Gibbs begins to say as he looks at Tony.

"It would just be nice if you cared about getting the guys who were shooting at us as well, rather than just the guy who shot at you and Abby." Tony stated. "It makes us feel uncared for."

Gibbs smacks Tony on the back of the head again.

"DiNozzo…"

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Shut up."

"But…" Tony begins to say.

Gibbs moves to in order to stand in Tony's face.

"They put Abby in the hospital. They try to kill my team. They shoot me with poisonous darts. All of this is linked to Marcus. I have a pounding headache. And I'm extremely pissed!" Gibbs said in a strong voice.

"Just checking to see if you're ready, Boss." Tony grins.

"Oh, I'm ready."

Gibbs turns away from Tony to continue speaking about what he thinks they're dealing with.

"Like I said… We're definitely dealing with his entire Spec Ops unit. The worst thing about them is the fact that they're fearless. That's the worst trait of a Spec Op, especially with how we're going head to head against them." Gibbs said. "These guys are trained to be the best."

"So what are we going to do?" Ziva wondered.

"McGee… Who was their commanding officer?" Gibbs asked.

"Captain Brendan Morrow… He's retired and currently living in lower Pennsylvania." McGee said.

"Let's get there before they do." Gibbs said.

"What makes you think they'll go there, Boss?" Tony asked.

"Cause he might be the only person who can possibly help us." Gibbs answered.

Gibbs and the team leave the lab.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sunday**

**Chapter 7**

Since retired Captain Brendan Morrow was unavailable and couldn't be located yesterday, the team had to wait until today to see him.

The team arrives at the Morrow residence in lower Pennsylvania. Gibbs parks the car in the street; in front of the house. The team gets out of the car. They walk toward the house. Suddenly, something strikes Gibbs as being rather odd. Gibbs stops walking. He has a puzzled expression upon his face. Ziva notices Gibbs stopped walking so she stops next to him. Tony and McGee continue walking closer and closer to the house.

"What is it, Gibbs?" Ziva wondered.

"Something's not quite right here." Gibbs replied.

"What?"

"They left a fingerprint on the dart. That's sloppy. These guys are Spec Ops; trained to be the best."

"Everybody makes mistakes Gibbs, even a Spec Op."

"It wasn't a mistake, unless…"

"Unless what, Gibbs?"

"Unless they knew the fingerprint would lead us here."

Gibbs turns and looks in the direction of Tony and McGee.

"DiNozzo! McGee! Get away from the house!" Gibbs yelled as he swings his arms in the air; motioning for them to return to where he is.

McGee stops but Tony keeps on walking a little bit closer to the house.

"It's only a house, Boss!" Tony shouted.

"DiNozzo… Get your butt over here… Now!" Gibbs shouted.

"Alright, alright…"

Both Tony and McGee begin walking to Gibbs. Suddenly, the house explodes. Due to the force of the blast, Tony and McGee launch into the air along with pieces of the house. Gibbs and Ziva crouch closer to the ground in order to avoid flying debris. The two of them watch as Tony and McGee land on the ground. Gibbs and Ziva stand up in concern. They quickly run over to Tony and McGee who are still just lying on the ground. Gibbs takes his suit jacket off and starts whacking Tony with it.

"Why are you hitting me?!" Tony exclaimed as he's covering his face with his hands.

"You're on fire." Gibbs said as he keeps whacking Tony with his jacket.

Tony starts trying to take his jacket off, but is having some trouble. While Gibbs is trying to put out the fire that is on Tony, Ziva helps McGee to stand.

"Are you okay, McGee?" Ziva asked.

"My shoulder hurts a little bit. But I'll live." McGee answered.

Over where Gibbs and Tony are, Tony the fire is finally put out. Tony sits up on the ground. He looks up at Gibbs who is standing to his left side.

"Aww, Boss… You do care." Tony said with a smile.

"I care that I just ruined a $100 jacket." Gibbs stated as he throws his jacket on the ground and walks away.

Tony holds up his own jacket in front of his face. He looks through the big hole the fire made in the jacket. A piece of the jacket breaks off and falls to the ground. The hole is even bigger now. Ziva walks over, crouches down and looks at Tony through the hole.

"I really loved this jacket." Tony stated in a sad voice.

"I'm sure no one will notice the hole." Ziva smiled.

"Funny…"

Suddenly, they all hear the loud screech of a fast-moving car. A black car races down the street, zooming passed the Morrow residence.

"Get to the car!" Gibbs shouted.

Gibbs and the team all run to the car. As Gibbs approaches the car, he jumps and slides across the hood of the car. He quickly gets inside, puts the key in the ignition and starts the engine. Ziva and McGee quickly get into the backseat.

"Wait up!" Tony yelled as he trails behind.

"Hurry up, DiNozzo!" Gibbs exclaimed.

Tony jumps into the passenger seat through the window. Gibbs immediately presses on the gas pedal. Tony's legs are still dangling out the passenger side window as the car is speeding away.

"Little help…" Tony said.

"Will you two help him?!" Gibbs stated.

From the backseat, Ziva and McGee try to help Tony get properly into the passenger seat.

"Hey!" Tony exclaimed. "Watch where you're putting your hand, McGee!"

"Don't worry, McGee. It's probably too small to find anyway." Ziva stated.

"This isn't pick on Tony day, you know." Tony said as Ziva and McGee continue trying to help him. "Just help me."

There's a moment of silence.

"You know Boss…" Tony begins to say as he's almost sitting properly in the passenger seat. "Watching you slide across the hood of the car reminded me of the Dukes of Hazzard…"

With not wanting to hear anything about movies or TV shows, Gibbs sees that in a couple seconds he'll have to make a turn so he decides to make it a sharper turn than it should be. At this point, he also knows Tony is almost properly in the seat. The car makes the sharp turn around the corner. Tony, Ziva and McGee slide to the passenger side of the car. Tony head bangs on the door. Ziva's head bangs on the separator part between the passenger and backseat window. And McGee's head goes crashing into Ziva's chest. Gibbs knows it was mean to make all of them suffer because of Tony, but his hands weren't free to smack Tony on the back of the head.

"McGee!" Ziva shouted.

"I… I didn't mean to…" McGee begins to say in a nervous manner. "I'm… I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, McGee." Tony stated. "Those things are probably too small to find anyway."

"Funny..." Ziva said.

Gibbs just smirks as he shakes his head. Both Tony and Ziva are now rubbing their heads after bumping them against the car.

After a couple minutes, they finally catch up to the black car as it enters onto the highway. Both cars weave in and out of the way of the other vehicles that are around. Luckily, there aren't many cars on the road at this time.

McGee and Ziva pop their bodies slightly out the windows from they're seated in the back in order to shoot at the black car. Two men in the black car start shooting back at them. As bullets go back and forth, other vehicles on the road try to move to the sides to get out of the line of fire. Bullets occasionally hit both of the cars. Tony starts rubbing his head.

"DiNozzo! What the hell are you doing?!" Gibbs exclaimed.

"Uh… Nothing."

'That's exactly my point! Will you shoot them!"

"Oh…"

Tony pulls out his gun. Gibbs makes a sudden turn to get into the left lane. Tony didn't expect it and his gun accidentally discharges inside of the car; into the dashboard.

"Oops…" Tony said. He doesn't even bother looking to Gibbs due to the shock of what he just did. "You know… The same thing happened in the movie Bad Boys 2. While inside of Detective Mike Lowrey's smokin hot Ferrari, Detective Marcus Burnett's gun discarded into the dashboard. Mike Lowrey, played by Will Smith was so pissed off at Marcus Burnett, played by Martin Lawrence…"

"Ziva!" Gibbs barked.

Ziva smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"Shutting up, Boss." Tony falls silent.

Tony sticks his arm out the window and begins shooting at the black car. The black car nudges another car. The nudged car spins out of control. Gibbs tries to avoid it but the car is all over the place and it's hard to anticipate where it will go next. Ziva and McGee pull themselves back into the car and Tony pulls his arm back inside. Gibbs quickly turns to the left. The out of control car smashes into the trunk of their car. Gibbs tries to regain control of his car after the smash.

For the next fifteen minutes, both cars keep weaving in and out of the traffic on the road. Both groups of people keep trying to shoot at each other.

The black car makes a quick right turn, at an exit to get off the highway. One of the people inside the black car opens the sunroof. He pops part his body out and points a rocket launcher. The NCIS car now makes the turn.

"Gibbs! Look out!" Ziva yelled as she sees the rocket launcher.

The black car hits a bump in the road just as the man fires the rocket. Gibbs tries turning the car to the left in order to avoid the rocket. Ziva, Tony and McGee brace themselves. The rocket hits the ground near the passenger side of the car. Due to the force, the passenger side pops up and Gibbs loses control. The car continues moving forward as the passenger side continues going upward. Finally, the car hits the edge of the road. The car flips into the nearby field.

The car flips two times before it lands on the wheels and just skids across for another couple of feet. The team now has a bunch of bruises, some cuts and scrapes, plus body pain. The NCIS car is bashed up and has a bunch of bullet holes in it as well.

"Is everyone okay?" Gibbs asked.

"Ouch…" Tony said as he holds his right side because he's in pain.

"We got flipped. Of course we're not okay." Ziva stated as she rubs her leg which hurts the most.

"McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"I vomited…" McGee answered as he holds his stomach.

"All of you should've been wearing your seat belts." Gibbs joked.

All three of them look at Gibbs like he's crazy.

"How are we going to get back home now?" Tony wondered. "The car doesn't look to be in working condition."

Gibbs is able to restart the car and begins to drive away, slowly.

"It still runs." Gibbs stated. "Well… Kind of."

They slowly drive back to NCIS Headquarters.

Upon arriving at NCIS Headquarters, Gibbs drops the team off in order for them to relax a bit and to do some safe desk work. In the meantime, Gibbs decides to go the hospital in order to see how Abby is doing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Gibbs walks into the hospital. Ever seen Friday night, Jamie has been at Abby's bedside watching over her; she's never left the hospital since the time she arrived. Gibbs enters into Abby's room. He sees Jamie sitting in a chair at Abby's bedside and smiles at how, in such a short time, the two of them have become best friends. Gibbs just stands near the door. Jamie doesn't realize he's there because she's busy reading a book to Abby. Abby's eyes are shut. Gibbs' hearts begins beating more rapidly as he looks at his daughter Jamie.

A flood of memories seem to rush through his mind every single time he looks at her. When he sees her, Gibbs becomes so happy, yet so sad at the same time. He remains standing there. He sighs slightly and finally approaches the bed.

"How's she doing, Jamie?" Gibbs asked.

"She's able to breathe better on her own now, but hasn't opened her eyes yet." Jamie replied.

"That's at least a good sign."

"Yes it is."

Gibbs pulls a chair up close to Abby's bed. He sits on the opposite side of the bed from where Jamie is seated because he has a hard enough time trying to resist the urge to just hug her. Gibbs gently places his hand into Abby's hand.

"I hope she wakes up soon. I do miss her dearly." Gibbs said.

"I'm sure she'll be just fine." Jamie stated.

Suddenly, Abby's heart monitor makes the flat-line noise. Both Gibbs and Jamie jump up. Jamie looks to Gibbs.

"Jethro! Do something!" Jamie stated in concern for her friend.

Gibbs runs to the door.

"HELP!!! Nurse!" Gibbs yelled.

Jamie starts laughing.

"Why are you laughing?!"

"Cause we played a joke on you."

Gibbs has a puzzled expression upon his face. Abby opens her eyes.

"Hi Gibbs." Abby said in a low voice.

"Abs? But…"

"I told Jamie to pull the cord whenever you got here."

"Yeah… In order for the heart monitor to make the flat-line sound." Jamie said.

A doctor and a couple nurses enter into the room.

"Sorry… False alarm… They were playing a joke on me."

The doctor and all but one nurse leave the room. The nurse walks over the heart monitor and reattaches the cord.

"Next time you decide to play a joke, please refrain from doing something this severe."

"Sorry nurse lady. It was my idea." Abby said. "I take full responsibility."

The nurse leaves the room. Gibbs looks at Abby.

"Sorry Gibbs." Abby said. She cracks a smile.

"We couldn't resist." Jamie added.

"You almost gave me a heart attack." Gibbs stated. "You two become evil when you're together."

"Yup…" Jamie agreed. "I'm a bad influence on her and she's a bad influence on me."

"We're a winning pair, Gibbs." Abby said in her low voice.

Gibbs sits back down in the chair and holds Abby's hand. He smiles at Abby because there's no possible way for him to actually be mad at her, especially due to her condition and how worried it makes him feel.

"Well it's great to see you in good spirits, Abs."

"I'm glad you came to see me, Gibbs." Abby tries to smile but is having trouble due to her pain.

"So am I." Gibbs agreed.

"Can you do me a favor, Gibbs?"

"Anything for you, Abs."

"Can you get me one of those yucky hospital pudding thingies."

"Sure… But I'll have to find out if you're allowed to eat it or not."

"Thanks Gibbs."

Gibbs stands up and walks away in order to go find a nurse. As Gibbs walks away, Jamie watches him until he leaves the room. Her heart is pounding because she hates not knowing why he abandoned her fifteen years ago. Jamie wants so badly to know the answer of why he didn't love her enough to want her back after the accident. She feels like crying every single time she sees him, but the tears never seem to want to show. Jamie wants him back in her life but doesn't want to go through the hurt again if he ends up rejecting her.

"You love him don't you?" Abby asked.

"Eww…" Jamie is disgusted. "That's just nasty, Abs."

"I didn't mean like that. I know you remember him."

"I…" Jamie paused for a second. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"The passed couple weeks I've seen the way you look at him. It's all in the eyes, Jamie. A girl knows these things."

"Alright… Yes I do."

"Why don't you tell him?"

"It's complicated, Abs."

"If you need to talk to someone about it, I'm here for you, Jamie." Abby stated as one friend to another. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Well you can't anyway." Jamie joked.

Abby giggles a little bit.

"Ouchie." Abby cried in a little pain. "Don't make me laugh… Please."

"Sorry."

There's a brief moment of silence between them.

"Please don't tell him, Abs."

"I won't. But I do hope you eventually tell him yourself."

"I will… I mean, I want to. It's just…" Jamie paused. "I need some time to figure a few things out first."

Two minutes pass. Gibbs re-enters into the room carrying a chocolate pudding which he stole.

"Yay! My yucky hospital pudding." Abby said in her low excited voice.

Gibbs hands the pudding to Jamie. He leans down and kisses Abby on the forehead.

"I need to go, Abs. There was an anonymous phone-call placed on the where-a-bouts of the vehicle used in the drive-by shooting. We have a major break in the case. Is it alright if I go? Cause I can stay if you want me to. I don't have…"

"Gibbs..."

"Yes Abs?"

"Go get them."

Gibbs smiles at her. He kisses Abby on the forehead again. Gibbs leaves the room in order to go meet up with the rest of the team.

The anonymous phone-call leads the team to an abandoned warehouse somewhere in the Washington, D.C. area. The warehouse is put under surveillance by order of Gibbs. The surveillance feeds directly into MTAC. Due to the car accident caused by the rocket, Gibbs doesn't want to rush the team when they obviously need to heal for a day.


	9. Chapter 9

**Monday**

**Chapter 9**

After almost a full day of heal time, in the late afternoon, the team goes to the warehouse. The warehouse is filled with un-open boxes, crates, empty fuel drums, and many other things which give some form of cover.

Gibbs parks the car in a secluded area away from the warehouse. They get out of the car and get ready. Each of the team members puts a bulletproof vest on and pulls out their weapon. Eventually, the team approaches the warehouse and enters inside. In a quiet and cautious manner, the team makes their way toward a center area where they hear voices coming from. The five suspects are working around an area with a table. The team rises from their positions of cover. They point their guns at the five suspects.

"NCIS! Freeze!" Gibbs yelled.

"Put your hands up! Now!" Ziva added.

"Go Ziva!" Tony said.

The five men raise their hands into the air.

"Hold your positions while I go cuff them." Gibbs said.

The team holds their guns pointing on the suspects, while Gibbs cautiously moves in closer. He steps toward the closest man. Gibbs takes the gun pointing at the man while he takes the handcuffs out. He holsters the gun. He begins to place the handcuffs on the man. Before Gibbs could snap the handcuffs shut, the man turns, shoves Gibbs to the floor and runs. The other men also run. The team fires a couple shots as the men bolt behind the many forms of cover in the warehouse. Gibbs regains his balance.

"You three go after them." Gibbs said as he points in a direction. "Be careful. And stay together!"

"What about you, Boss?" McGee asked.

"Don't worry about me. Go!"

Tony, Ziva and McGee run off in the direction three of the suspects ran off into. Gibbs follows the direction the other two men ran in.

Unfortunately, after some point the three men Tony, Ziva and McGee are chasing, split up and go separate ways. The team, not following Gibbs' advice of staying together, split up in order for each to pursue a suspect.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ziva chases one of the suspects into a corner area of the warehouse where she somehow loses sight of him. She cautiously walks closer to a fuel drum. The man pops out from behind and knocks the gun out of her hand. The man tries to take a swing at Ziva but she blocks it. She kicks him in the shin then quickly punches him in the face. The man stumbles backward. Ziva runs in order to go pick up her gun. The man jumps on her back and pulls her to the floor. The man pins Ziva to the floor. Ziva is lying on her stomach. The man grabs Ziva by the hair and pulls her to her feet. With his free hand, he punches Ziva in the stomach four times. He throws Ziva against the fuel drum. He pulls out a knife from his boot and kicks Ziva's gun further to the side, out of reach. The only way for Ziva to get her gun is to go through him.

"Not a smart idea buddy." Ziva said.

The man charges at her. When he gets close enough, he swings the knife at Ziva's head. Ziva crouches down to dodge the knife. She moves forward to get closer to the man. With the bottom of her palm, she makes a thrust upward into the man's face, breaking his nose instantly. The man drops the knife. Ziva catches the knife immediately after the man dropping it. The man is slightly dazed from the blow to his nose. Ziva rolls off to the side. She quickly turns around and throws the knife into the man's head. The man falls to the floor.

"You see…" Ziva begins to say as she shakes her head. "If men would just listen to a girl, then they wouldn't get their butts kicked so much."

Ziva grabs her gun and runs off to find the others. The suspect is left in the area, lying dead on the floor with a knife sticking out of his head.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Tony pursues a suspect off in a different area of the warehouse. When Tony catches a glimpse of the man, he fires a couple shots. The suspect leads Tony into a slightly closed off section of the warehouse, near an old office. With having the suspect trapped, Tony points his gun at the man.

"Looks like you're screwed." Tony said.

"Not quite…" The man said. "You're the one who's screwed here."

Suddenly, the content of a fire extinguisher is sprayed at Tony from his right side. The man moves to the left, out of Tony's line of aim. The suspect with the fire extinguisher comes out from behind a large box. Tony, who can't see very much, starts firing his gun in the direction of the fire extinguisher. One of Tony's bullets plunges into the man's shoulder. The man Tony first pointed his gun at, tackles him to the ground. Tony is now pinned to the floor.

"What you think we should do to him, Billy?" The man asked the other.

"He shot me, Jason." Billy replied. "Let's kick the crap out of this little bitch."

"You think we can maybe talk about this?" Tony wondered.

"No!" Both of the men answered at the same time.

"I didn't think so…" Tony said.

Jason punches Tony in the face and Billy kicks him in the stomach. Jason drags Tony across the floor, over to a table. As he's being dragged, Tony tries reaching for anything he can get his hands on, but nothing within his reach can be used as a weapon.

"Grab the axe, Billy."

"You have the right to remain silent…" Tony begins reading them their rights. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…"

Jason stops walking which means Tony isn't being dragged anymore. Jason leans down and punches Tony in the face. Jason grabs Tony's leg again and drags him.

"You have the right to an attorney…" Tony continues. "If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you…"

"Will you shut him up, Jason!"

Jason stops. He leans down and grabs Tony. He throws Tony unto a table and pins him down. With his free hand, Tony tries reaching for something as Billy is walking over with the axe. Billy lifts the axe above his head in order to swing it downward. Tony's eyes widen. Tony's hand finds a jar of nails. He quickly bashes the jar of nails against Jason's head and rolls out of the way. The axe lands on the top of the table where Tony moved from. Tony punches Jason in the face which knocks him down to the floor. Tony immediately grabs a small wooden box and smashes it against Billy's arm as he tries taking the axe out of the table. Billy falls to the side. Jason gets up and uses his shoulder to spear Tony in the stomach. With the shoulder spear to the stomach, Jason lifts Tony slightly and crashes him through the table. Tony is lying on top of the broken pieces of the table. Jason stands nearby and looks down at him.

"I'm going to gut you like a fish." Jason stated.

Jason crouches down toward Tony. He holds his fist up in order to take a swing at Tony. But before Jason swings, Tony grabs the axe and hits Jason in the face with the handle. Jason falls off to the side. Tony stands up. Billy immediately smacks Tony's back with a board of wood. Tony drops the axe as he stumbles. Billy tries to smack Tony with the board of wood again, but Tony dodges it. The board of wood ends up hitting Jason as he's getting up. Jason falls down again. Tony grabs at a small pile of dirt on the floor and throws it into Billy's face. Billy drops the board of wood and starts rubbing his eyes. With his shoulder, Tony spears Billy in the stomach and rams him into a cabinet door. Tony punches Billy in the stomach three times, then in the face two times. Tony reaches for a hammer which is off to the side. He grabs hold of the hammer, turns it to the claw end and bashes the claw of the hammer into Billy's neck. Blood bursts out. Billy falls to the floor and bleeds to death.

Jason kicks Tony in the back. Tony stumbles forward into the cabinet. Jason grabs Tony and throws him across floor. He walks over to Tony, kicks him in the stomach then punches him in the face. Jason grabs Tony and forces him to stand. Jason tosses Tony at the window of the office. Tony raises his arms to protect his face. Tony crashes through the window, lands on the desk inside and falls onto the floor. Jason picks up Tony's gun. He walks into the office. He places his left foot on Tony's back in order to push him down so he can't get away. Jason lifts the gun and aims it at the back of Tony's head.

"Say goodbye, bitch." Jason said. Tony closes his eyes because he thinks this is the end.

Suddenly, a shot is fired. Jason falls to the floor. Jason is dead. Tony opens his eyes to see McGee running to his aid. McGee enters into the office and helps Tony to stand. Tony grabs his gun out of Jason's hand. He fires a shot into Jason's chest just to make sure. Tony looks at McGee.

"We shall never speak of you saving me." Tony stated. "Ever…"

"If that's your way of saying thanks, you're welcome Tony." McGee said.

Tony falls onto McGee because he's having a little trouble standing on his own. McGee quickly grabs hold of Tony and helps him out of the area. The two of them go off to try to find the others.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the abandoned warehouse, Gibbs is pursuing the last two suspects. He hears a noise coming from somewhere to the right. Gibbs cautiously walks around the corner. He now hears a slight noise off to the left side. One of the men stands up from behind a large crate and points a nail-gun in Gibbs' direction. Gibbs jumps behind a couple boxes as nails shoot out at him. Gibbs grabs an object from the floor. He tosses the object to the right in order to draw the man's attention over there. When Gibbs stops hearing nails bashing against the boxes he's behind, he pops up and shoots the man in chest two times.

"Mac…" The man cried as he falls onto the crate and bleeds out.

With one last suspect left, Gibbs continues to search for the man named Mac. After walking around another corner, Gibbs' arm is hit with a steel pipe. His gun falls to the floor. Mac tries to hit Gibbs again, but he catches him by the wrist. Gibbs punches him in the stomach two times. Mac gives Gibbs a leg sweep to knock him over. Gibbs falls to the floor. He quickly rolls away and stands up. The two men, Gibbs and Mac are standing face to face.

"This should be interesting." Mac said.

Mac reaches for Gibbs' gun which is lying on the floor close to him. Gibbs charges. As Mac picks up the gun and tries to aim it, Gibbs rams his body into Mac. A shot is fired off to the side. The gun flies into the air and lands somewhere out of view. Gibbs rams Mac against a wall. Gibbs punches him in the face. As Gibbs goes for another swing, Mac blocks it and knees Gibbs in the stomach. Mac punches Gibbs in the face. Gibbs punches Mac in the stomach then rams him against the wall again. Gibbs gives him an uppercut to the jaw. Gibbs tosses Mac to the floor. Mac stands up.

"Is that all you got old man?" Mac asked.

"You ready for round two?" Gibbs asked.

"Always..."

Gibbs and Mac walk closer to each other. They stand face to face again. Mac swings at Gibbs, but is blocked. Gibbs kicks him in the stomach. He swings at Mac's face, but is blocked. Mac kicks Gibbs' right knee. Then he punches Gibbs in the face. Gibbs gives Mac a leg sweep and as he falls, he grabs hold of Gibbs. They both fall to the floor. Once on the floor, Gibbs punches Mac in the face five times. Mac knees Gibbs in the stomach. Mac punches Gibbs in the face and shoves him off. Mac rolls out of the way a bit. He stands and charges. Mac tries to kick Gibbs, but is blocked by Gibbs' arm. Gibbs grabs Mac's foot and twists it a bit so that Mac's back is facing him. With his free hand, Gibbs punches Mac in the back two times. Mac twists himself slightly, jumps and kicks Gibbs in the head in order to break free. Both men fall to the floor again. They get up and stand face to face.

"Not bad old-timer." Mac stated. "Tell me… How did you find us?"

"Does it matter?"

"No, not really…"

While standing face to face, Mac pulls a knife out of his boot. He swings the knife at Gibbs, who jumps backward to avoid it. Mac starts swinging the knife at Gibbs over and over. Gibbs dodges every attempt. Mac tries to thrust the blade into Gibbs' chest. Gibbs moves to the right, grabs the hand that's holding the knife and punches Mac in the face. The two men fight over possession of the knife. Mac rams Gibbs into the wall. The knife hand is freed from Gibbs' grasp. Gibbs knees Mac in the stomach. Mac falls slightly but quickly regains his balance. Mac stabs Gibbs in the left leg.

"Argh!" Gibbs cried in pain.

Gibbs punches Mac in the face. He grabs at the knife as Mac twists it inside Gibbs' leg.

"Argh!"

Gibbs reaches for an object he notices stationed on a wall shelf. After grabbing the object, he bashes it against the side of Mac's head. Mac falls to the floor. Gibbs walks slightly to the side and takes the knife out of his leg. Before having time to turn back, Mac spears Gibbs in the back. They both fall to the floor. The two men begin rolling around on the floor. Eventually, Gibbs is pinned, stomach facing the floor and Mac on his back with his arm wrapped around Gibbs' neck. Gibbs' face is starting to turn red due to Mac choking him.

Tony, Ziva and McGee enter into the area and point their guns at Mac. Tony is slightly leaning on McGee because he's still having a hard time standing properly on his own since he's quite hurt.

"Freeze!" McGee shouted.

"Get off him! Now!" Ziva added.

"No!" Gibbs exclaimed as he continues being choked. "Step back!"

"Boss, let me take him!" Tony exclaimed.

"No!"

Gibbs bashes Mac in the head with his elbow. The two roll off to the side a bit. Mac kicks Gibbs in the side to knock him fully over. Gibbs falls to the floor. Mac jumps on top of Gibbs and kind-of sits on his chest. He punches Gibbs in the face. Gibbs moves his legs upward to wrap them around Mac's neck just enough to get him off. With his legs slightly around Mac's neck, he flings Mac backward. The back of Mac's head hits the floor. Mac rolls backward. The two of them stand up.

After standing up, Gibbs punches Mac in the face. Mac pushes Gibbs to the floor. Mac leans down to attack Gibbs, but receives a kick to the chest instead. Mac is now leaning slightly over Gibbs. Gibbs pushes his legs up and wraps them around Mac's neck and partially around his body. Gibbs twists his body which flings Mac to the floor. While on the floor, Gibbs secures the leg lock. Mac's left arm is dangling upward through Gibbs' legs as he's being choked. With his right hand, Mac's hitting the back of Gibbs' leg where the stab wound is. Gibbs squeezes his legs together much tighter. Mac's hand finds the actual stab wound. Mac forces his finger inside of the wound.

"Argh!" Gibbs cried in pain. He twists his leg lock which ends up breaking Mac's neck. Mac is now dead. Gibbs takes his legs off Max and stands up.

"Please tell me the others aren't dead as well." Gibbs said.

Tony, Ziva and McGee all look at each other.

"Are any of them still alive?" Gibbs asked.

"Sorry, Boss." Tony answered.

Gibbs starts to limp passed them.

"I need coffee."

"What about a doctor for your leg?" McGee asked.

"Coffee will do just fine."

The team leaves the warehouse.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Before heading back to NCIS Headquarters, the team stops in town in order to get some food and drinks. Gibbs goes to his local coffee supplier while the others walk down the street to the deli. Gibbs limps into the coffee shop. The stab wound to his left leg isn't bleeding anymore, but there's blood on his pants around the wound. Gibbs' face is slightly bruised from the fight with Mac.

"Mr. Gibbs, what on earth happened to you?" The clerk wondered why his most loyal customer looks like he fell out of a tree.

"Shaving accident…" Gibbs joked.

"Your razor decided it couldn't handle your face anymore, so it beat you up?"

"Yeah… Something like that."

"You always crack me up, Mr. Gibbs. I'll get you your usual."

"Thanks."

Gibbs wanders off to the side a bit in order to look at the ground-coffee bags. Suddenly, a man with a trench coat enters the store.

"Here you go, Mr. Gibbs."

Gibbs walks to the clerk and takes his coffee. The man in the trench coat walks over and pulls out a shotgun from his coat. He points it at the clerk.

"Give me all of your money!"

"Oh come on…" Gibbs sighed at this lame attempt at a robbery. "Do you really need to do this right now?"

"Shut up grandpa!" The attacker shouted at Gibbs. He then looks at the clerk. "I said give me the money. Open the register and put it all in a bag. Do it! Now!"

The clerk opens the register and starts putting the money in a bag.

"Grandpa… That's really original." Gibbs said. "Couldn't think of anything better?"

"Dude! What the fuck is your problem? I'm here with a gun and you ain't got shit except a coffee."

"Coffee can be a very powerful weapon."

"That's a good one." The attacker laughed. He quickly analyzes appearance. "What the hell happened to you? Did your wife beat you up or something?"

"My second wife hit me with a 7 iron golf club one time."

"You probably deserved it."

"Yeah…" Gibbs agreed. "And you picked a really bad time to do this."

"It's always a good time for this."

"You don't quite understand. I'm not in the mood for this. I've had a really bad weekend and a horrible start to the work week."

"I don't care! Now shut up!"

"Have you ever tried this coffee? It's really good."

"Do you ADT?"

"It's actually ADD… Attention Deficit Disorder."

"What are you, a school teacher?"

"No… But a lot of the times I feel like a high school principal."

"Hurry up with the money!" The attacker yelled at the clerk.

"You want a coffee?" Gibbs asked.

"What?"

"Let me buy you a coffee."

"I don't want a coffee you old fart."

"Come on, everybody loves coffee."

"What?! Do you want me to shoot you because you're getting on my last nerve!"

"You can try."

The man starts to turn in order to point the shotgun at Gibbs. Gibbs grabs the barrel of the shotgun and jolts it upward. A shot goes off which hits the ceiling. Gibbs tosses his hot coffee in the attacker's face. Then Gibbs punches the man in the face and shoves him to the floor.

The attacker is on the floor holding his face due to the hot coffee which was thrown into it. Gibbs holds the shotgun and uses the back end of it to hit the attacker in the head. The attacker is now unconscious.

"Told you coffee can be a powerful weapon." Gibbs said. "Maybe next time you'll listen."

Gibbs places the shotgun on the counter. He looks at the clerk.

"I seemed to have spilled my coffee. Can I have another?"

"Sure thing, Mr.Gibbs."

The clerk hands Gibbs another coffee. The clerk leans over the counter to see the attacker lying unconscious on the floor. Then he looks at Gibbs as he just smirks and begins to walk away. Gibbs walks over the attacker, steps on his stomach and limps out of the store.

"Thank you… Come… Again…" The clerk said as he didn't know what else to say.

Gibbs meets up with the rest of the team and they all go back to NCIS Headquarters.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The team returns to NCIS Headquarters. The first thing Gibbs does is go down to Autopsy to see Ducky in order to get his leg stitched up. The rest of the team goes to the bullpen.

Jamie steps off the elevator. She walks into the area.

"Hey Jamie." Tony greeted her.

"Hello Jamie." McGee said.

"Hi Jamie." Ziva said.

"Hey everyone." Jamie said. She waves.

Jamie takes a good look at everybody, especially Tony since he's the most bruised and hurt of the three.

"Oh my God… Tony… What on earth happened to you?" Jamie wondered.

"His date beat him up." Ziva answered.

"Funny." Tony said. "We… Well, it seems like got into a huge fight cause Ziva and McGee left me to fend for myself against two people."

"I chased my own suspect!" Ziva exclaimed. "It's not my fault McGee lost his."

"Just how did you loose your suspect in the first place, McGee?" Tony wondered.

"Umm… I had to stop to tie my shoe." McGee replied.

"Are you kidding me?!" Tony exclaimed.

"I didn't want to accidentally step on shoelace cause then I would end up tripping and falling to the ground." McGee stated.

"McGee… You're dead!" Tony exclaimed. "I'll give you a ten second head-start. One…"

"Tony, I'm sorry."

"Two…"

"You're not actually going to chase me, are you?"

"Three…"

"Tony?"

"Eight…"

"What happened to four, five, six, and seven?!"

"I failed math. Nine…"

"Tony…"

"Ten!"

Tony bolts after McGee. McGee runs in the opposite direction. Now, Tony is chasing McGee all over the room. Ziva and Jamie look at each other. To Jamie, she wonders how Tony can be so immature for his age.

"He seriously needs to seek professional help." Jamie stated.

"No argument there." Ziva agreed.

"Anyway, is Jethro around?"

"He should probably be back up here in a little while. He had to go down to see Ducky to get his stab wound taken care of."

"He was stabbed?! Where? Is he alright?" Jamie can't help but be concerned for her father.

"It's nothing too serious. Just in the leg. He's fine though."

McGee runs passed the girls, with Tony soon to follow.

"McGee, I just want to talk!" Tony exclaimed.

"No you don't!" McGee shouted.

Both Jamie and Ziva shake their heads. Gibbs steps off the elevator and limps over to the girls.

"What the hell are they doing?" Gibbs asked.

"It's Tony, what do you expect." Ziva replied.

"Hi Jamie…" Gibbs greeted her. He wants to express how overly happy he is to see her. He also wants to speak with her about something he feels with her being around. About how happy he is that she's back in his life and wants it to be more; to be a family again. He decides not to say what he's truly feeling. "Good to see you, as usual."

"Hey Jethro." Jamie greeted him. She's happy to see him and really wants to speak with him about why he abandoned her so many years ago. She wants closure on the subject, but decides to not say what she's truly feeling. "You look like shit."

"Thank you very much. I feel like shit too." Gibbs stated. "Hold on one minute…" He said. "DiNozzo! McGee! Front and center!"

As Tony and McGee are walking over to Gibbs, they're childishly shoving each other.

"Yeah, Boss?" Both Tony and McGee asked.

Gibbs smacks McGee on the back of the head, while Jamie smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"Sit!" Jamie exclaimed.

"She can't do that?!" Tony exclaimed. "Can she?"

Gibbs smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"Don't argue with the lady. And do as you're told." Gibbs stated. "Both of you… Sit!"

Tony and McGee go sit at their desks. Gibbs limps over to his desk and sits down. Jamie follows Gibbs in order to talk to him. After being seated, Tony glances over at McGee and sticks his tongue out at him.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs exclaimed.

"Yeah, Boss?"

"If you know what's good for you, you'll keep that tongue in your mouth."

"Right, Boss."

Gibbs looks up at Jamie who is now sitting on the corner of his desk.

"You see what I have to put up with… Children."

"You can always fire him."

"I've been thinking about it." Gibbs joked. "Why aren't you at the hospital with Abby?"

"We were supposed to go to a concert tonight. That's why I came for the week. But with what happened, I was going just stay with Abs in the hospital. She told me I should still go to the concert. She insisted that I go. She even gave me an; or else. So now I have two tickets and wanted to see if you'd join me."

"Who's playing?"

"Mudvayne, Diecast and Shadows Fall."

"Huh?" Gibbs has a perplexed expression upon his face because he has no idea what those bands are.

"Really loud, hard music."

"And you like that type of stuff?"

"Absolutely love it. Those are my favorite bands, especially Shadows Fall. Abs agreed to go see them with me." Jamie stated. "If you don't want to, I can always ask Tony."

Tony pops his head up from behind his computer.

"I'd…" Tony begins to say.

"Forget it DiNozzo!" Gibbs exclaimed. "I'd be happy to go with you, Jamie. How bad can it be…?"

"Great! Let's go. The concert starts in two hours, so we can go eat something first."

Gibbs stands up. Jamie wraps her arm around her father's arm. They walk to the elevator. Tony and McGee walk over to Ziva's desk where she's already standing. Gibbs turns and looks back at the team.

"The three of you work on trying to locate that disk."

Gibbs and Jamie walk into the elevator in order to leave to go eat something then head off to the concert. The elevator door closes.

"Did he just agree to go to a concert?" Tony asked in astonishment.

"Yes he did." Ziva said; also astonished.

"Gibbs has got about a snowball's chance in hell of surviving that concert." McGee stated.

"I got twenty bucks Gibbs comes back in worse shape than he is right now." Tony said.

"Well if he doesn't come back, I get his desk." Ziva stated.

"What makes you think you get his desk?" Tony asked.

"I called it first." Ziva replied.

"If anybody gets his desk, it should be me!" McGee exclaimed.

Tony and Ziva look at McGee.

"One…" Tony starts to count.

"Two…" Ziva added.

"Three…" Tony said.

"Four…" Ziva said.

"Oh come on!"

"Five…" Tony said.

"That's no fair!"

"Six…" Ziva said.

"Seven…" Tony said.

"GIBBS!!!" McGee shouted.

"No one can save you now, McGee." Ziva stated.

"Ten!" Tony exclaimed.

McGee runs. Tony and Ziva bolt after him.

"What happened to eight and nine?!" McGee shouted as he runs away.

"We both failed math!" Ziva replied.

Tony and Ziva chase McGee around the room.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple hours later, Gibbs and Jamie get out of the concert. They both go to the hospital to see Abby. As they enter Abby's room, they see she's sleeping. It's passed midnight at this point. They both sit on a chair on either side of Abby's bed. Gibbs gently places his hand in Abby's right hand, as he's on the right side of the bed. Jamie reaches into the bag she brought and pulls out her diary. She quickly writes an entry then puts the diary back into the bag. She gently places her hand in Abby's left hand as she's on the left side of the bed. Gibbs and Jamie both watch over Abby all night.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The diary entry**

I came to the D.C. area in order to see my dear friend Abby. Instead, I end up sitting at her bedside in the hospital. An unexpected occurrence forced us to be here. I feared for her life. I thought I would lose her. Thought I would lose my best friend. I held her hand, expressed my thoughts, and she gently grasped my hand. Did my words help her make it through this ordeal? Was it my words that she fought so hard to come back for? I may never know the answer to these questions. Though, we, as human beings, don't always need an answer to every single question that may cross our path. She's alive. That's the good thing. In regards to questions without answers, we search for a truth when sometimes all there is, is a lie. We search for a lie, when all there is, is a truth. Sometimes with a lie, we never find a truth. Or with a truth, we never find a lie. What do I search for? I sit here at the bedside of my dear friend Abby, looking across to the other side where Jethro, my father, sits. I want to tell him. Yet, I don't know how. Nor, knowing if what he'll tell me is something I'll want to hear. Since the day I finally remembered him, is what I thought, true? Did he truly abandon me? Is there something I don't know? Is there more to this whole thing than either him or I know about? Or will I just end up getting hurt from all this? These are the questions that haunt my mind.

One of these days I'll find the courage in myself to step forward about this whole thing. And I'll accept whatever answers I receive.

**End diary entry**

**THE END…**

…**yet TO BE CONTINUED**

This concludes part 2 of the story "A Link to the Past". Hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
